As the head coach of a team with no playoff aspirations, Byron Scott’s main job (besides keeping Kobe Bryant happy) is to oversee the development of the Los Angeles Lakers’ promising young players. Of those players, none are younger or more promising than D’Angelo Russell, and yet Scott has refused to give him the time and space to develop and build confidence. In the telecast of Friday’s Lakers-Clippers game, Clips analyst Don MacLean expressed his frustration with Scott:
“I really wish Byron Scott would just give D’Angelo Russell the keys and say, ‘You know what? Go for it man.
“He’s still playing tentative because he’s looking over his shoulder,” MacLean said. “If Byron Scott would just say, ‘You know what, D’Angelo? I don’t care if you turn it over 15 times tonight, you’re going to play 35 minutes. Go for it, and go for it,’ (Russell) will figure it out.”
Russell himself separately opined that he got benched in the fourth quarter of a previous game against the Mavericks because he missed shots, which all but confirms that Russell doesn’t trust that Scott will let him play through mistakes. If you don’t trust that, your confidence could easily begin to erode.
But Byron doesn’t seem concerned about it at all, and his response to MacLean was dismissive at best and combative at worst:
Scott responds to criticism from Don MacLean and others who have questioned his handling of rookie D'Angelo Russell pic.twitter.com/NkceFEk37i
— Bill Oram (@billoram) February 1, 2016
Scott’s talk of preserving confidence is all well and good, and it’s true that Russell is loose with the ball. But is that really why Scott benched Russell? Of course not; it was for the complete opposite reason:
https://twitter.com/billoram/status/692239310268022784/photo/1
So, Scott doesn’t want to leave Russell out there through all of his mistakes to preserve his confidence, but he is also concerned that D’Angelo is too confident? It’s hard to keep straight, so imagine what it’s like for Russell?
One message emerges loud and clear through all the noise, however: Scott publicly criticizes Russell quite a bit. It’s nothing new from a coach who throws up his hands and says he can’t do anything about his players’ communication issues on the court.
And as far as his dig on MacLean, the Clippers announcer had his own retort.
“I’m not coaching because I chose not to coach. We don’t know if I could’ve coached or not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know the game,” MacLean said. “I’m not the first person to wonder out loud why he hasn’t just given the keys to D’Angelo and let him figure it out because you’re going to set records for losing this year.
“D’Angelo, 50 games in, doesn’t look any different than he did in game one,” MacLean said. “So all the development and protecting that Byron is talking about doing really hasn’t done anything him any good.”
Once again, Russell inadvertently backed up MacLean’s argument in his comments after the Clippers game.
D’Angelo Russell on his season: "I feel like I was improving. Now I feel like, I don’t know, not really as much."
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) February 1, 2016
Scott’s Lakers have tied the franchise record with a 10-game losing streak, and while winning was never the goal this season, the losing hasn’t come with progress. The fact that Scott responds to criticism of the lack of progress with insults and by digging in his heels shows exactly why his coaching style is so damaging to the Lakers’ long-term goals. Scott doesn’t know what he wants out of Russell, which means Russell doesn’t know what to do. It’s the worst of all possible worlds.
(Via Los Angeles Daily News)
